After talks in Beijing, China released remarks in which Xi Jinping warns of confrontation over Taiwan—“the most important issue in China-US relations”—while the leaders also canvassed the Middle East, Ukraine and North Korea amid a condensed summit agenda light on climate and human rights.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has warned of “clashes and even conflicts” with the US over Taiwan after meeting Donald Trump in Beijing.
Xi’s remarks, which were published by China’s foreign ministry after his two-hour meeting with Trump on Thursday morning, said Taiwan was “the most important issue in China-US relations”.
China is keen to put Taiwan at the top of an agenda that risks being overshadowed by the war in Iran and disagreements over trade. Beijing wants the US to reduce its levels of support for the self-governing island, which China claims as part of its territory. Xi has made “unification” with Taiwan a core priority for his legacy and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve that aim.
The Chinese government also said the two leaders discussed the war in the Middle East, the Ukraine conflict and issues on the Korean peninsula.
Discussions are not expected to focus, as they have with previous US administrations, on human rights and US-China cooperation on tackling the climate crisis. The US and China together account for nearly half of global emissions.
Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: “President Trump has been pretty hostile to the concept [of human rights] … it would be hard to imagine in a Trump-Xi meeting that human rights would figure meaningfully if at all in their discussions”.
Xi and Trump are meeting in Beijing for a momentous summit that will pack negotiations on global conflict, international trade and the future of artificial intelligence into just over 24 hours.
Trump arrived at the Great Hall of the People, an imposing Mao-era building that borders the western edge of Tiananmen Square, on Thursday morning for an opening ceremony followed by face-to-face talks with Xi.
Rows of uniformed officers flanked the red carpet laid out in front of the Great Hall of the People as Xi and Trump walked side by side on to a lectern to listen to a welcome salute before being cheered by rows of children waving US and Chinese flags. The children received a double thumbs up from Trump and a wave from Xi.
The ceremony concluded with a tightly choreographed performance from the Chinese military’s marching band before Trump and Xi walked up the stairs into China’s national legislature for their first round of bilateral talks.
In opening remarks, Xi noted that 2026 marked 250 years of US independence and said that stability in the US-China relationship was necessary for the world.